Talking point: Why managers are feeling the heat on climate change

When we solicited the opinions of LPs about how seriously private debt fund managers take climate change, the responses were not exactly a ringing endorsement. Just 4 percent told our LP Perspectives Study 2021 that they strongly agreed fund managers were on top of the issue, with most opinion split on whether managers were sufficiently committed or not.

Private debt, it could be argued, has up to now occupied the back seat when it comes to climate change and ESG. The expectation in sponsored deals has been that private equity firms can take a more proactive, hands-on approach to portfolio companies and are therefore the more natural catalysts of change.

However, there is now a greater appreciation that lenders can take matters into their own hands – for example, through loans that have margin-related incentives for hitting ESG targets.

Removing excuses

At Private Debt Investor, we often hear that the asset class lacks a consistent approach to ESG, with different funds catering to a wide range of investor types, all with varying demands and expectations. This looks like a smokescreen and may effectively be little more than an excuse for managers not to get their act together and provide full-blown reporting and disclosure. There are moves afoot to remove the excuse, with the European Leveraged Finance Association, for example, striving to produce guidelines that everyone should feel able to sign up to.

In an Investing for Change report, published in February 2021 by consultants Mercer, the argument was made that having a robust ESG framework allows you to bring experience and solutions to diversity, equity and inclusion issues.

As Mercer points out, DE&I is not just about fundamental issues of fairness – though it certainly includes that – but also about performance. The report references a 2019 study from the National Association of Investment Companies, which showed that from 1994 to 2018, diverse funds outperformanced based on several different measurements.

We are hearing a lot of positive sentiment from investors about private debt’s prospects, given how resilient it has so far proved to be through such a challenging period. But it is also clear that the asset class has some catching up to do when it comes to some of today’s most pressing issues. There can be no room for complacency.